Jen Nycz-Conner, '95, on Applying WJPZ Lessons Through Multiple Careers

Jen Nycz-Conner, '95, on Applying WJPZ Lessons Through Multiple Careers

Author: WJPZ January 15, 2024 Duration: 59:37

Jen Nycz-Conner felt like she applied to every college in the Big East (RIP) before falling in love with the communications program at Syracuse.  Once on campus, she found a fellow freshman with a map.  She and Steve Donovan went to the radio station, met B.B. Good, and the rest is history.

Living above the station in Watson as a sophomore, Jen got more involved with the station, and soon became VP of Operations as she and her 1995 classmates ran WJPZ.  Actually, she wasn't technically Class of 1995 - as she explains.

She also talks about many of the friendships she's formed through the alumni association, with WJPZ family members she didn't go to school with.

During school, she secured internships with Jim Henson productions and HBO Sports, the latter of which led to work after graduation.   And this included some entry level "pay your dues" jobs.

Soon, her husband Chris was in DC, and Jen was in New York.  Something had to give, and she found a job working with the ProServ agency in Arlington, Virigina.

Through mergers, acquisitions, and a changing economy, Jen's next stop was Women in Film and Video in DC.  This nonprofit work connected her with the Washington Business Journal, where she'd work for nearly a decade and a half, including time on air on legendary DC Radio station WTOP.

After the job at Washington Business Journal, Jen had a few different career paths in mind.   When her current job at Hilton came up, it checked all of her boxes.

Through her one-of-a-kind career, Jen talks throughout today's epsiode about the lessons learned at WJPZ, and how they've served her well.

The WJPZ at 50 Podcast Series is produced by Jon Gay, Class of 2002, and his podcast production agency, JAG in Detroit Podcasts.

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Want to be a guest on the pod or know someone else who would? Email Jag:  jag@jagindetroit.com.

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For fifty years, the student-run airwaves of Syracuse University's WJPZ at 50 have been more than a radio station; they've been a launchpad. This oral history project captures that legacy not through dry facts, but through the voices that built it. Each episode is a conversation with a different alumnus, from the pioneers of the 1970s to recent graduates, tracing how their hands-on experience in what's called the "world's greatest media classroom" shaped careers in broadcasting and far beyond. You'll hear personal stories of late-night broadcasts, technical mishaps turned into triumphs, and the forging of lifelong bonds that created a unique professional family spanning generations. This podcast digs into the real, often messy, work of learning by doing, revealing how a campus station became an enduring institution. Tune in for a collection of fifty interviews that together form a living archive, celebrating the people, not just the programming, behind five decades of student-led radio.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

WJPZ at 50
Podcast Episodes
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Duration: 32:16
We've had podcast guests in the radio, news, and sports arenas, but today's episode features an alumnus who has spent most of his career working with artists in the record label world. Adam Eisenberg always knew he had a…
Beth (Berlin) Cohen and Jana Fiorello, Class of 2002 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:04
Today's episode reunites three members of the WJPZ Class of 2002, as Jag is joined by Jana Fiorello and Beth (Berlin) Cohen. You'll hear themes of lifelong friendship here that are likely reflected in your own class.Beth…
NPR National Correspondent Jennifer Ludden, Class of 1988 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:49
Jennifer Ludden, Class of 1988, has had an incredible radio reporting career. And it all started at WJPZ. This Tennessee native was recruited by "dorm mom" Sue Mandel (now Weingarten) to come "get a tour" of the radio st…